


alpha/omega

by yuletide_archivist



Category: Frank Herbert's Children of Dune (2003)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-12-19
Updated: 2006-12-19
Packaged: 2018-01-25 07:35:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1639211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yuletide_archivist/pseuds/yuletide_archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They are as they have always been; entwined, united and never alone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	alpha/omega

**Author's Note:**

  * For [dreamiflame](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamiflame/gifts).



> Written for dreamiflame

 

 

_alpha_

The spice agony passes and suddenly they are alive. They are alive and they are not alone. She turns to her left and there he is. He moves his head and sees her for the first time. They are aware and they are together. 

_omega_

When Ghanima dies she is both the oldest human being and the youngest. For she is filled with a terror like that of the day she was born. She is not worried about what lies beyond death. Ghani has spent too many days on this planet struggling to survive to worry about what will happen when her water no longer runs. What terrifies her most is leaving behind her brother. She has only managed it twice before and both times it nearly killed them both.

She closes her eyes and with her last breath exhales, "Usul." 

_beta_

The burden of being pre-born is that one never has the sensation of discovering the past. The past is the present, memories of lifetimes become muddled into one time-stream, until the brain can no longer easily decipher what happened when and to whom. This can lead to Abomination if it occurs in a brain too weak to enforce its own personality. 

_psi_

As Leto looks down at his first great-grandchild he is struck dumb by the sudden realization that one day there will be a child born of the Atreides legacy that will outlive Ghani. Someday he will watch a child be born, grow strong, bear children and one day die. He will be there at the beginning and the end. 

_gamma_

Leto did not speak until his third year. Alia sent for doctors, priests and even her mother, the Lady Jessica, all trying to figure out what disease had befallen Muad'Dib's son. When Irulan was finally asked for her opinion, she said, "It is common for one twin to speak while the other does not. What need does Leto have for words when Ghani speaks them for him? The twins do not need language like you or I, Alia, they only need each other."

When Leto finally spoke in full sentences ten days later, Alia refused to speak to Irulan for six months. 

_chi_

It's in the sideways glances, the raised eyebrows, the fact that Ghani favors her left side when she throws a knife, that Leto reads languages he has never heard spoken; these are the clues to the nature of these children. It's not just that they have knowledge they never had to learn, it's the memories as well. Leto teases Duncan about things his grandfather knew. Ghani reminisces about childhood games Paul learned at Duncan's knee. He loves them and fears them in equal measure.

They are his Emperors, his family, his past and his future. 

_delta_

When the twins were seven years old a deadly virus swept through the spaceport and Arrakis was quarantined on Alia's orders. For the first time in their life the twins were separated. In order to guarantee succession, Ghani was sent to Sietch Tabr while Leto remained at the palace. At night when the first moon hung low in the sky, they each closed their eyes and prayed to be reunited.

When the virus finally passed, the twins, in Stilgar's presence, swore on their water that they would never be separated again. 

_phi_

It is time to shake off misconceptions, time to break free of the images that haunt his dreams. He has chosen his journey which is more than was once possible. He will lead his people down the Golden Path, offering not salvation or sympathy but opportunities. He will not fear.

Fear is the mind killer. 

_epsilon_

They see her as the mother they never needed. Irulan is tied in their memories as both betrayer and innocent. They spend time everyday trying to get her to reveal herself to them. And everyday she smiles, kisses their cheeks and remains an enigma. She loves them and would die to keep them safe, that is all they can ask of her. 

_upsilon_

She sits on the throne next to her brother and daydreams, imagining a day of leisure spent in the sietch. He catches her eye and laughs, "A day of rest tomorrow. We must remind ourselves of our heritage and visit with our Fremen brothers."

Her smile lights up the room. 

_zeta_

"She draws ever closer brother."

"She is like the moth; she can not help her nature."

"She frightens me Leto."

"You are nothing like Alia," Leto turns to watch the parade of people hurrying to the court, "And neither am I." 

_tau_

Ghanima has decided that the Bene Gesserit have outlived their usefulness, they will need to be replaced with a new manner of religion. Possibly a group with Leto as the figurehead, making them easily controlled. When she voices her thoughts to her brother he says, "Sister, what kinds of people will look to a worm for sustenance? Fish people?"

"I will call the leaders Fish Speakers." 

_eta_

Separation was necessary. Better a quick blow now than a lingering wound that could fester and possibly kill. Death would never be the end, just a way stop along the path. The Golden Path. 

_sigma_

"When I look, there is nothing there. It is a void in my sight, I can not-"

"Shhh, Leto."

"You do not understand Ghani, I know it is there, but I can not-"

"I understand, but you accomplish nothing by continuing to look. Do not get trapped in the same cycle as our father." 

_theta_

For Leto to return, Alia must die. The circle of life gives and takes in even measure to Emperors and to peasants with little care to station. She has her brother, but she has lost her aunt. The Abomination within her speaks louder every year, but with Leto safe and by her side she has no need to give into fear. 

_rho_

She has not led the life she envisioned, but in her naive grasp for power she has managed to have a life beyond her wildest dreams. She has safety, people that respect her opinion and she has a family that cares for her. Does it truly matter if she never knew the love of the man when she has his children's love?

As Ghanima and Leto do not call her "mother", so did Paul never call Chani "wife." 

_iota_

They take the vows in unison as it should be.

"We will rule with strength, with intelligence and with truth. We will bring back the ways of the past and carry forth the ideas of the future. We will be the Emperor.

The Spice Must Flow." 

_pi_

"You make too many changes."

"You once said the same thing to our father Stil."

"Your father was a great ruler, but he was only a man." 

_kappa_

The marriage ceremony is held after the rite of crowning. This is but one of the changes the twins plan to implement during their rule. Unity is less important than the fate of the Empire, personal needs will always be subservient to the needs of the masses. And while Leto and Ghanima have no need of a ceremony marking their unity, the law insists.

As Royal Scribe, Farad'n stands on a dais and watches Ghani pledge her love to another. It will become a familiar sight. 

_omicron_

"I worry that one day I will be alone. I worry that I can not see all of the future. I worry that one day I will not be able to tire myself out with running anymore.

"You worry about many things young Atreides."

"Do not mock me Duncan."

"There is knowledge the wisest person does not know, futures the Navigators can not see and distances that Shai'hulud can not cross. Why should you be different?"

_lambda_

"I know it is never easy being the lesser choice Farad'n, but learn from my mistakes. The twins have only been separated twice in their lives; you can not hope to come between them.

"I know aunt."

"Ghani will love you in her own way."

"She sleeps next to me and wakes next to him, what kind of love is that?"

"More than I ever had." 

_xi_

They are as they have always been; entwined, united and never alone. 

_mu_

Leto's sex organs were no longer serviceable so Farad'n did not worry about the genetic makeup of his children. His blood runs through their veins for all that they resembled none of his line. He did not know if Ghanima possessed the power to change them in the womb so that only Atreides remain. Even if he had the courage to ask, he would not wish to know the answer. His children would never be his. Just like his wife, his partner, his lover would always belong to another. Farad'n would have a lonely life full of love, respect and laughter. It was not his name that Ghani cried in her sleep, it was not his name on the tip of her tongue when she muffled her face during orgasms and it was not his steps she counted pacing the halls.

Farad'n had her heart, her body and shared her children, but he would never have her mind or her soul. Those belonged to Leto and no one else. 

_nu_

He leans against the rocks watching his heirs play at Fremen games alongside the children of Seitch Tabr. They take no notice of Leto and play their games happily without his interference.

Ghani walks towards him with a smile on her face, "They do not need us here brother; let us go for a ride in the desert." 

 


End file.
